Birds. 



6491 



among civilized people, and in no small proportion either, whose 

 "infirmity of purpose," "feebleness of will," "indecision of character," 

 is so obvious and continually met with, as even to occasion phrases — 

 the very ones I have used among them — to be stereotyped for the 

 common purpose of expressing them ; while among the uncivilized 

 and semi-civilized tribes, the instability or infirmity of will is one of 

 the chief hindrances in the way of permitting newly introduced pro- 

 cesses and habits of civilization from becoming stable and capable of 

 self-support (Zool. 6205). 



Now, it certainly seems to me that the facts connected with the 

 development of mind, and of the volitional faculty, in the several 

 orders of Vertebrates, are rendered much more comprehensible by a 

 recollection of such circumstances as those just mentioned, in con- 

 nexion with the development of the same faculties among mankind. 

 Taking these facts into dispassionate consideration, the objection that 

 the lower animals can have no mind at all, because the manifestations 

 of mind in their case are so slight, so comparatively imperceptible, 

 when put in contrast with those seen in the dog or the monkey, seems 

 to be almost as forceless and unreasonable as it would be to say that 

 the most stolid clod in the country side, the most stupid dolt at the 

 village school, are not endowed with intellectual faculties because 

 they differ so greatly, in a mental point of view, from some distin- 

 guished ornament of the learned professions — so inconceivably from 

 such almost superhuman intellects as Newton. 



J. C. Atkinson. 



Danby Parsonage, Grosmont, York, 

 March, 1859. 



Instinct of Birds. — It is quite pleasing to observe the instinct of birds in certain 

 seasons: in December and January the missel thrush, or "storm cock," during the 

 lulls between the storms, was frequently to be seen and heard, delighting us with his 

 beautiful short chant. On the 28th of January, — a fine, calm, mild day,— I heard a 

 lark sing part of his song, and he soared about half his accustomed height on the 

 occasion: this is about a mouth or six weeks before the usual time, but was a true 

 presage of the long mild weather which followed. Those sagacious birds, the rooks, 

 also began building their nests a full fortnight before the usual time. The hedge 

 accentor has been in full song for two months ; and the first blackbird I noted in this 

 neighbourhood opening his beautiful plaintive but chary song, was on Saturday, the 

 19th of February. Our splendid songster, the thrush, has been in uninterrupted song 

 since the frost in November last. — H. W. Newman ; Cheltenham, March 9, 1859. 



Occurrence of the Great Ash-coloured Shrike (Lanius excubitor) in Banffshire.— A 

 male specimen of the above species entered Drummuir Castle about the middle of last 



